Sky ruin Christmas : Jack, AW and other guff

hope your day yesterday was as pleasant as can be, and not like some poor urchin who wanted a Nintendo games device but got a cup of wee and the news that John Terry was his real dad. Be thankful for what you have.

We should have been playing today but the tube strike has put paid to that and it means that we could slip down the table a few places as those around us gain some points. Of course they could all lose or something which would be jolly pleasant, and I for one will be hoping for exactly that outcome. I should look at the fixtures, I suppose, and see if it’s even possible.

I notice that there’s no 3pm game on the TV and the one they have lined up for the evening is Aston Villa v Sp*rs – way to ruin Christmas, Sky. Who in their right mind would want to watch that? Even after Christmas Dinner II – The re-fattening and a few glasses of wine it’s about as appealing as spending eternity listening to Jamie Redknapp’s football ‘analysis’. Presented by Robbie Savage. And with a theme tune sung by Jamie himself which is a reworked version of a Phil Collins ‘classic’.

“Oh, fink twiceit’s anovver day in Jamie’s football paradise”

So it’s a terrible footballing Christmas and there’s little going on from an Arsenal point of view. Jack Wilshere says we just have to keep grinding out results:

We know we’ve got a great squad here. There’s a great team spirit and it shows on the pitch. At this time of year, with all the games coming up, you just need results.

Now, I love Jack, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that the need for results is not simply a seasonal thing. But perhaps I’m reading too much into it. Maybe something from the manager will help as he talks about the win over Wigan:

You could see that defensively we are getting better as a unit, as a team.

Yes! I like this. It’s not famous last words or tempting fate at all. What makes you think that? Ok, experience and the past and all that, but still, it’s almost a new year and that’s clean slate territory. He does have a point though, as I pointed out after the Wigan game it was funny to see the Arsenal defence put up a solid wall to prevent Wigan from making space in the final few minutes. They were like birds flocking, such was the graceful, majestic synchronicity of their movement.

It’s something I think I’d like to see more than once though before I start believing that this is the way we’re going to do it from now on. There’s also some stuff from Lukas Podolski about fighting spirit but we might give that a miss. One man’s fighting spirit is another’s ‘scraping a win’. In the way that Arsenal sticking 5 past Reading away from but conceding 2 was a sign of weakness, but Man City scoring the only goal of the game in the 90th minute at their own stadium was the mark of champions.

The reality is that scoring 5 against Reading makes us 5 times better than Man City and that the media fail to report that is part of a wide-ranging conspiracy that seeks to denigrate and deride us at all times. I guess we’re used to it now though.

So, in the absence of anything else, I’ll wish you a good day. If you’re having a beer of a glass of wine, I suggest having a plethora. Everyone loves a good plethora, right, Jefe?